Why would Lou bat Soriano No. 2?

According to Stoney on the Score, he will end up at 5 and that he is a step slow right now. Leg still hurts. He is not a good lead off anyways...he is a power hitter who likes fast balls and thats why he likes to bat first. Stoney said it was selfish actually!

so.....

I think this gives everyone the clue that Brian Roberts is coming over finally.And for not having 2 left handers one behind another he is batting second with Roberts first and Fukodome fifth. Another option could be Soriano Roberts Lee Ramirez Fukodome in that order for a line up. And using Mark De Rosa in shortstop because ryan theriot cannot play everyday.

It's about time. Actually, I agree with those who say he should be down even further in the lineup. Also, I heard Stoney on the radio today make a good point: Why not bat Fukudome in the middle of the Soriano/Lee/Ramirez bunch somewhere since he's a lefty and they're all righties? It would certainly make it harder on the other manager in the later innings.

Looks like we answered that one....

any more BRAIN BUSTERS?

I agree, I can see putting him anywhere 1-6...except the number two spot. He even said he wouldn't bunt...which is fine, I wouldn't want him too. Whoever you put in the number two spot had better be able to bunt, hit to the opposite field, work the count...etc. As far as I can tell, those are all things that Soriano doesn't do. I would still be fine letting him bat 1st if the Cubs wold follow the Brewers and Cardinals lead and bat the pitcher 8th. I wouldn't mind seeing Theriot bat 9th.

And because he is a free-swinging, undisciplined home-run hitter he was never a lead off guy either.
Maybe if you have someone with a high on base percentage at the number 1 spot getting on base then teams cannot pitch around him and will have to throw him strikes. That is when he become dangerous.
It has to be a better move than him leading off the game with a strikeout or pop up from swinging at junk.

Who cares what Steve Stone Thinks anymore. His Opinions are no longer valid to us. Let him rot with his senility.
If you find your self talking about batting order strategy in March, then surely you must ask yourself "am I really putting my heart into this blog?". Let Ricky have it for a while. The end.

I think he is moving him to no. 2 now just to get him out of the leadoff spot...Once Roberts is here the lineup should be; Roberts, Theriot, Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, Fuko, Soto, Pie...Let Fuko get comfortable and if he starts hitting then u can move him to 5 or 2, you cant have fuko and soriano hitting 2 and 3, too many question marks at the top of the order...You know what you are getting with Theriot...Soriano should never hit no. 2, Theriot or Fuko are the no. 2 hitters on this team, or Derosa when he plays...For the record, Roberts will never hit 2nd and Derosa will never play shortstop!!!

You saw the real Soriano in the playoffs. The guy is a slightly better Shawon Dunston. He can't hit curve balls. Fukudome will have an OBP probably at least 40 or 50 points higher than Soriano; so why wouldn't you want Fukudome at 2 or 3, to get more at bats and break up the string of righties, and put Soriano at 5.

Roberts is going to be here! What a great fit!

Fukudome would be a great choice for the 2 spot due to his high OBP (I hope the other Cubs learn to take a walk from him), and the fact that lefty hitters are naturals at moving runners from 2nd to 3rd or hitting through the hole if a runner is held on first.

The only problem is, presuming Pie hits eighth, that leaves us with 3-7 as all righty hitters.

For that reason, it makes sense to bat Theriot 2nd. His base stealing ability makes up for the lower OBP and we should still see plenty of runners in scoring position for the 3,4 hitters.

Fukudome will be great at 3 because of the high OBP. Lee is a solid decision maker and could handle 4. Aramis has said he prefers 5.

One thing is for sure, I CANNOT watch Soriano hit with someone on third and less than two outs. He will swing at anything, whiff and we'll be looking at year 101 for a championship. That should completely rule out the 3 or 4 spots for him. The 5 or 6 slot is perfect for him.

So here is my suggestion.

ROBERTS
THERIOT
FUKUDOME
LEE
RAMIREZ
SORIANO
SOTO
PIE
ZAMBRANO

If you find your self talking about batting order strategy in March, then surely you must ask yourself "am I really putting my heart into this blog?". Let Ricky have it for a while. The end.

Posted by: stuckinwisconsin | March 14, 2008 08:41 AM

ROMESKI....how did you let Stuck get away with this one?

Roman responds: Please. Yeah, imagine talking about batting orders during Spring Training. Ridiculous! Ricky will have it during the weekend, except when he's going to the Hawks game on Sunday courtesy of yours truly. If Stuck doesn't like, he can go elsewhere.

Come on folks...Pie is a bust. DeRosa deserves to start every day and KDome is not an RBI guy. On days we face a leftie you move KDome down to 6th and slide Lee and ARam up.

VS Right Handers

Roberts - 2B
Theriot - SS
KDome - CF
Soriano - LF
Lee - 1B
ARam - 3B
Soto - C
DeRosa- RF

VS Left Handers

Roberts - 2B
Theriot - SS
Soriano - LF
Lee - 1B
ARam - 3B
KDome - CF
Soto - C
DeRosa- RF

Here i want to show the cubs 25 man roster for opening day.
1.Roberts
2.Soriano
3.Lee
4.Ramirez
5.Fukodome
6.Soto
7.Pie
8.Theriot or De Rosa

Ward,Payton,Cintron,Blanco

1.Zambrano
2.Lilly
3.Lieber
4.Hill
5.Dempster which i dont like i would prefer Marquis but i think he is going away on the trade.

Marshall,Howry,Eyre,Wood,Hart,Wuertz and Marmol as the closer.

We are the champions!!!!

1. Roberts
2. Theriot
3. Soriano
4. Lee
5. Ramirez
6. Fuko
7. Soto
8. Pie
9. Z

enough said.

Roberts

Fukudome

Lee

Ramirez

Soriano

DeRosa

Soto

Theriot

(player to be announced at later date)

The Cubs are going to be GOOD this year! (Watch as I eat my words at the end of the season when they blow it in the NLCS)

If you get Roberts as a lead-off guy, why would you need someone to bunt in the second position? You have a base stealer so he can steal bases, not bunt him to the next base.

Yes Roman, bunting. Bunting is so important and good and isn't a complete waste of outs. Face it, HR hitters in a typical lineup usually bat 3-5. Your guy in the 2-hole has one goal that supercedes all others: BE ON BASE WHEN THEY HIT THE HOME RUNS. If you want your 2-hole hitter to be bunting and attempting sacrifice hits to the right side, YOU ARE GIVING AWAY RUNS.

Barring a Roberts trade, this is why Fukudome and DeRosa are the best two candidates to hit 1 and 2 in the Cubs lineup. Theriot is a garbage player who is garbage at getting on base. He's insanely fun to root for (this coming from a Sox fan), but please, don't confuse that with him being good. He isn't. Theriot belongs nowhere near the top of a major league lineup. Soriano is ideal for the 5-hole, because his high-power, no-OBP approach makes it perfect for him to bat last among the Cubs HR-hitting sluggers.

a free swinging home run hitter...should bat 4th

I think he'll hit more than 40 if Lou puts him there

Roberts and Theriot should be 1 and 2...I haven't seen a Roberts trade, tho....

I hope we get Roberts and Coco Crisp, but I will settle for Roberts. Here is my line up: Soriano should bat 3rd. If we get Roberts then Fukudome needs to bat 5th to seperate the left handers. Opposing managers like it when all your left handed bats are together, so let's not please opposing managers. I mean you do want to win a world series, right?
Roberts 2b
Theriot ss
Soriano lf
Lee 1b
Fukudome rf
Ramirez 3b
Soto c
Pie cf
bench/ DeRosa, Fontenot, Ward,( Crisp or a right handed bat), Koyle Hill/ ( At some point we need a left handed batting catcher to compliment Soto)
Starting Pitchers/Zambrano, Lilly, Lieber, Hill, Marshall or Hart I Just don't like Dempster or Marquis
bull pen/ closer Wood, Marmol, Howery, Wuertz, Hart or Marshall, Erye, Pignatiello.

Soriano is a 5-hole hitter. Put him there and let him take his hacks. He has no plate discipline whatsoever, so letting hit 1 or 2 where he's getting more than 600 ABs is ridiculous. I can't live with with such a low OBP and so many strikeouts, much less his "psychological block" that's having him run at 85%. I like Fukudome in the 2 spot.

Too much is being made of the lefty/righty balance in the lineup. Good hitters are good hitters. Too many lefties simply don't get ABs against lefthanded pitching, are either coddled or pigeonholed. Can you imagine righties coming up and never facing righthanded pitching? It's asinine.

and if Roberts doesn't get done...I go for twistin on Pie's a little tighter and leading him off ...and I think Soriano would hit more HR's than DLee at clean up...and DLee is gonna be our best hitter ...and should be batting 3rd

ok..every body can get mad and cry now...don't get your testi's in a twist, tho

Pie
Theriot
Lee
Soriano
Ramirez
Fukudome
DeRosa
Soto
P

a free swinging home run hitter...should bat 4th

Hitless

well..your forgot to add..FASTBALL LOOKING ONLY